Interactive voice response, or IVR, is a telephone technology that enables a computer to detect dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling or perform voice recognition during a conventional telephone call. Current IVR systems typically respond to a caller with prerecorded or dynamically generated audio that guides the caller through extensive menus to the sought-after individual or department within an enterprise. This automation saves money for the enterprise by eliminating the need for human agents to handle incoming telephone calls. This benefit comes, however, at the expense of caller satisfaction. Callers frequently become frustrated with the IVR because they find the various IVR menus time consuming and baffling, often leading to dead ends. Such experiences have led to a generally critical opinion of IVR systems, that they are impersonal, inefficient, and incapable of adequately addressing a caller's needs.
Caller dissatisfaction lies also with IVR systems employing generic voice recognition—where a user can speak the name of the desired service into the telephone and be connected to that service—because such systems can be unreliable. A key difficulty lies in anticipating the various potential structures of a customer's verbal request. For example, a caller may say, “I have a problem with my bill”, or simply “bill”, “billing”, “facturation”, “wrong billing”, or “double billing”. Different accents and pronunciations present additional challenges for successful voice recognition. If the IVR system cannot recognize the caller's request, the IVR system may repeatedly ask the caller to repeat it, which can only add to the caller's frustration.